Canada's opposition Conservative Party leader slammed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government Monday for agreeing to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade, saying the ruling party got little in return for the concessions made to President Trump. Trudeau's government said they were still working toward an agreement on steel and aluminum tariffs with the U.S., but could cite no progress.

"They capitulated on access to Canada's dairy market," Andrew Scheer, leader of Canada's Conservative Party, said in parliament Monday. "They capitulated on pharmaceuticals, agreeing to Donald Trump's plan for higher drug costs for Canadians. And they actually agreed to limit Canada's diary exports to other countries so that American farmers can fill that space."

"Can [Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland] explain: Did she get, in exchange for those concessions, an end to the steel and aluminum tariffs?" he asked.

Freeland, the top negotiator for the USMCA deal, replied that the government was tough "when it mattered" and got a good deal for Canada. She said that Trudeau's government was still pursuing lifting the steel and aluminum tariffs, noting it had announced 25 percent steel tariffs against the US last week as a counter-measure the Trump administration's tariffs.

The administration initially granted Canada and Mexico exemptions to its steel and aluminum tariffs. Those were revoked earlier this year in order to pressure both countries to make concessions for the eventual U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement. Canada complained that the U.S. tariffs were unfair, noting that they were justified on national security grounds despite the northern neighbor being a long-standing U.S. ally.

The USMCA deal obligated Canada to roll back two dairy price support programs as well as open up its markets to more dairy imports. The move is expected to allow U.S. producers to gain 3.6 percent of the Canadian market, up from the 3.25 percent that had previously been negotiated under the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, which Trump pulled the U.S. out of. Canada also made concessions on biologic drugs, extending the "data protection" period — the time when they are granted market exclusivity — to 10 years, up from eight previously.

The main concession granted by the Trump administration to Canada was backing down on a proposal to scrap NAFTA's Chapter 19, which allows the three trade partners to challenge each others’ anti-dumping and countervailing duty decisions. The section is seen by Canada as crucial to protecting some price support systems for its domestic industries.